Bioorganic Chemistry and Chemical Biology. Prof. Kumar
and his group are involved in areas of research that lie at the interface of
chemistry and biology. The main goal of the research is to use chemical and
biological methods to create novel and functional molecules that allows us to
understand the mechanism of, and/or control biological processes. His group uses
the traditional techniques of organic chemistry, such as synthesis and
spectroscopy, of biological chemistry, such as recombinant DNA technology,
protein purification and enzyme kinetics, and of biophysics, including
investigation of protein structure in membranes. Current projects in his
laboratory focus on: De novo protein design and evolution; Combating bacterial
resistance to antibiotics; Understanding the origin of the intron-exon
gene structure of modern day enzymes; Catalysis by small molecules and peptides;
and Design of membrane protein architectures for specialized functions.